"The Tsar Bomba's fireball, about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) in diameter, was prevented from touching the ground by the shock wave, but nearly reached the 10.5 kilometres (6.5 mi) altitude of the deploying Tu-95 bomber."

I'd love to hear the pilot's thoughts on this. From what I can guess, he couldn't have traveled very far away by the time the explosion occurred. At the very least, he must have felt tremendous turbulence.

I wonder if the scientists knew how close the explosion would be to the aircraft.